Takako Sato

Takako Sato is a modern artist who constantly approaches the abyssal significance that the word “kawaii” connotes.
Leaving the advertising agency she worked for many years, she entered Musashino Art University and learned non-figurative painting. Since graduation, she has been working on the theme of “ribbon obsession,” adding paints on ribbons excessively attached to supports to express the neurotic aspect of “kawaii,” a Japanese word used in pop culture as a generic term for loveliness, beauty, and glamour. Based on her own experience, she works on her pieces, presuming that “kawaii” culture emerged along with women’s social advancement and functions as a means to restrain ourselves as we try to adapt to society. She attempts to express the internal ambivalence of allowing one’s true and false self to coexist, whose hardship is not limited to women, in a style that takes inspiration from the kawaii culture in its early years, including girls’ comics and fashion from the 70s and 80s in Japan.

“カワイイ”が内包する深淵な意味に迫り続ける現代美術家、佐藤貴子。
長年勤めていた広告代理店を退職後、武蔵野美術大学に入学し、主に非具象絵画を学ぶ。卒業後は、愛らしさ、美しさ、華やかさの総称として使用するポップカルチャー的な日本語、“カワイイ”が内包する“神経症的”な側面を、「ribbon obsession」をテーマとし、支持体に過剰に貼り付けたリボンにペイントする手法で表現。自身の経験から、“カワイイ”カルチャーは日本女性の社会進出とともに現れ、社会に適応するための自己抑圧の手段として機能しているのではないかと考えて制作している。真の自分と偽りの自分の共存、その息苦しさはもはや女性だけに限らないが、そのアンビバレントな内面を、1970年代〜80年代の日本の少女マンガやファションなど、初期の“カワイイ”カルチャーに影響を受けた作風で表現しようと試みている。